Adidas 3SSB Session 1: 2027 Standout Forward/Centers

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Orange County, CA - Last weekend, April 24th - 26th, I attended Session 1 of the Adidas 3SSB Circuit hosted at Open Gym Premier Ladera. The event started on Friday morning and wrapped up Sunday afternoon, featuring 3 days of high-level basketball with teams and players from all parts of the country taking the court for some much anticipated match-ups. This article takes a look at 8 standout forwards/centers from the Class of 2027. I will also be looking at standout guards, wings, forwards, and centers from the classes of 2028 and 2029. In this article you will find the following information: players name, height, position, school, club team,  how they performed, and their skill sets. The players are listed in alphabetical order, not ranked order, and we begin with Kamsi Awaka.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Kamsi Awaka (6'10 | FC) - Blair Academy/New Heights 17s</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Awaka has a physical and athletic frame with good touch around the basket, asserted himself as the interior presence to go with an impressive group of guards, and averaged 10 points and 5 rebounds per game during Session 1. The 6-foot-10 forward/center controls the boards on both ends, limits opponents to single shot possessions, and has good timing and touch on put-backs off the glass. Awaka has good court awareness, finds holes in the defense around the basket, in particular the dunker spot, where he was the recipient of several slip or drop off passes for the monster dunk, makes good reads to perimeter players from the low-post position, and patrols the paint to block/alter shots around the basket.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Joshua Conti (6'9 | PF) - Millbrook/Garner Road 17s</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Conti is a versatile big that showed the ability to space the floor from beyond the arc, the moves to score in the paint, and finds open teammates when the defense collapses on him. The 6-foot-9 power forward showcased his offensive potential in a loss to Breakaway Basketball 17s, and put up solid numbers throughout Session 1, at 7 points, 4 rebounds, and 50% from the 3-point line, going 4 of 8 to show he can open up the floor. Conti has good court vision from the top of the key, finds teammates cutting off the ball with quality passes, has the spin-fade middy in his bag, as well as the mid-post jumper, and showcased his ability to connect on the 3-ball off the catch, opening up driving lanes. Assertive on the glass with good touch on put-backs.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2436298' first='Mahamadou' last='Diop'] (6'11 | FC) - San Gabriel Academy/Dream Vision 17s&nbsp;</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Diop was one of the better known big men at Session 1 and he displayed his interior moves, footwork, massive wingspan to be one of the top rim protectors in the gym, and finished with an impressive 13 points, 7 rebounds, 1 block, and 1 assist in a loss to Austin Rivers SE Elite to wrap up his weekend of play. The 6-foot-11 center has the length, athleticism, and instincts to be an elite shot blocker in the paint, with the straight up block, weak-side, and trailing blocks to lock down the paint, controls the boards on both ends, the timing to get put-back dunks off the glass, and limits opponents to single shot possessions. Diop also showed versatility and accuracy on the mid-range jumper, with the face-up mid-post and baseline spin-fade jumper, the interior footwork and post-most to shake his defender, with touch on the spin float-hook at around the basket, and the reverse spin-back to the strong side for the power dunk.  </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Jaquavion Gilmore (6'8 | PF) - Bible Baptist Christian Academy/Atlanta Celtics 17s&nbsp;</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Gilmore is a physical and imposing player that is relentless on the glass, has good court awareness to get to the open spots, and had a strong showing to close out the weekend against the loaded Compton Magic Elite squad, finishing with 12 points, 10 rebounds, 2 blocks, and 1 steal. The 6-foot-8 power forward anchors the defense, limits opponents to single shot opportunities, alters/blocks shots around the basket with good timing and active hands to deflect or deter shots at the rim, gets the ball out to his lead guards, and runs the floor well in the open court to get ahead of the defense for the transition finish. Gilmore has a strong build, is able to score through contact around the basket, as well as enough handle to back-down his defender, with good body control and the spin-move to separate from his defender to score with the lay-up or dunk, and the footwork to score with the up-and-under move or the pump-fake to get his opponent off the ground and out of position.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2564445' first='Isaac' last='Gonda'] (6'10 | PF) - Bella Vista CIA/Dream Vision 17s&nbsp;</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Gonda is a lengthy and agile player that can space the floor from beyond the arc, protect the basket, runs the floor well in transition, and had his best game closing out the weekend against Austin Rivers SE Elite, going for 10 points, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks, and a pair of threes to highlight his ability to impact the game in the paint or from the perimeter. The 6-foot-10 power forward crashes the boards, gets easy points off the put-back with touch around the basket, seals his defender off to get open on the dive out of the pick and roll action, has the footwork and enough handle to attack from the baseline and score with the spin-move into the lay-up to separate from his defender, and showed he can spray the 3-ball off the bounce, which pulls bigger defenders away from the basket and opens up driving lanes.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Griffin Starks (6'9 | PF) - Southeastern Prep/Phenom United 17s</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Starks is a versatile and skilled player that can space the floor from beyond the arc, excels in the open court, and had his best showing against Indiana Elite, which I was able to watch live, as he would go for 11 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals, and connected on 3 threes. The 6-foot-9 forward/slasher moves well off the ball, finds holes in the defense around the basket or on the perimeter, has enough handle to create his own scoring opportunities, and showed accuracy from the 3-point line off the dribble or the catch, which opens up the floor for his perimeter players to attack, pulling rim protectors away from the basket. Starks has good timing and length to block/alter shots in the paint, the agility to step out and contest perimeter shooters, and gets ahead of the defense in the open court for transition buckets.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1555179' first='Darius' last='Wabbington'] (6'11 | PF) - Sunnyslope/Compton Magic 17s (featured picture)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Wabbington made his 3SSB debut at Session 1 and walked away in most people's opinion as the Most Outstanding Player of the weekend, displaying point-forward and perimeter skills, to go along with his interior moves and play-making, averaging 17 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, while shooting over 50% from beyond the arc, connecting on 9 threes over the 4 games played. The 6-foot-11 forward has great footwork, back-to-the-basket moves to create shots in the paint, with the spin-move, shoulder-fake, and back-down into close rage lay-ups, baby-hook, and dunks, showcasing his physical build to score through contact around the basket. Where Wabbington was most impressive during Session 1 was his perimeter game, showing off the handles to operate at the top off the key, the moves to create space from his defender, using the crossover, between-cross, hesitation, and spin-move to get his defender off balance, is accurate with jumper from the mid-range to the 3-point line, with a variety of shots to score from the wing, from the face-up jumper, to the spin-move to separate from his defender, the baseline pump-fake into the middy, and the transition pull-up jumper, with great body control and the size to shoot over perimeter defenders, as well as pulling rim protectors away from the basket. Wabbington has solid court vision, makes good decisions with the ball in his hand, and has the size to look over the whole defense and find players cutting off the ball or popping out on the perimeter for open looks, and makes good reads up the court off the defensive rebound to find teammates in stride for transition buckets. Wabbington moves off the ball well, gets to his shot spots, and is effective with the 3-ball off the catch. His ability to run the point for Compton Magic Elite was a feature of his game that was put on display and shows the versatility that makes him one of the top bigs in the country.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Nicholas Welch Jr. (6'9 | PF) - Rolling Hills Prep/CA Gold 17s&nbsp;</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Welch is a physically imposing player that can dominate the post, can stretch the floor from the wing, and plays to his strengths, putting up great numbers during Session 1, with averages of 16 points, 5 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and shot over 50% from the field, highlighting his efficient style of play. The 6-foot-9 power forward has nice footwork, post-moves to create shots with his back-to-the-basket, using the spin-move, the up-and-under, or muscling through contact to score on shots close to the basket, as well as the ability to move off the ball, get to the open spot on the perimeter, and connect on the jumper from the mid-range to the 3-point line to space the floor. Welch controls the glass on both ends, gets points off the put-back with good touch around the cup, and has the court vision to make plays and find open teammates from the top of the key or when posting up on the low block on the kick out pass. Welch runs the floor well, uses his physical tools when necessary, but can mix it up with some perimeter game.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->